'I set my clocks early

cause you know i'm always late'

So last week was a bit stressful for me but i wrote a list of everything i needed to do and every day knocked one or two things off my list. By friday i was for the most part finished i had to make some minor adjustments to certain parts of my bible but for the most part it was finished and ready for printing. i never got to revise my anamatic but i did revise my story board so that it's up to date and in my bible. I printed my bible out on the weekend and after some setbacks it was completed on sunday night. I was very proud to have finished it so perfectly on time, no massive cramming, no last minute changes, no missing parts it was all there and all done. I got to school yesterday, showed my Bible to Huni to make sure everything was on the up and up which it was and then handed it in. It's not really sticking to my 'be early not on time or late' creed but i was so happy that there was no real cramming or real stress e.g. "OH MY GOD MY BIBLES NOT DONE WHAT THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO IT'S DUE TOMORROW?!?!?" just smooth sailing and smiles. I will try to continue to work like this for the rest of the year. if i did it for the first half surely i'll be able to do it for the second half.

I am readying myself to keep working on the comps i have left to hand in to Darren and the animation i have to finish for Jack. I think i'm going to try to finish and hand in my actual animation to Jack in the morning so i can practise this...stop frame thingy magigarer that Jack was talking about. The pose to pose kind of 3D animation because if he wants us to do our major animation like that then i have to practise as much as i can cause i haven't done that before in 3D. Must practise on thursday while he's still in class with us and i can still go 'so wait, now what do i do?'. Closing in on the last week and i'm feeling pretty good about the work i've done in semester 1, i am quite nervous about semester 2 but as they say in the classics 'there ain't no point worrying bout it if theres nothing you can do to change it. best just go with the flow' yeah they totally say that in the classics.

Next week is the last journal (500 word semester review) for semester 1 YAY!

Till next time,

Same mutli-coloured hair, same blog channel.

Goodness Gracious

Great balls o fire.

So. It's the second last week and the enormity of the task i have chosen is now beginning to dawn on me. This came about when i was speculating render times and filling production schedules with tasks i don't know how to complete. Garret said something about layers last week and passes, the difference between light, animation and something else. I was literally freaking out about 5 hours ago. Ican'tbelieveichosetodo3damiinsaneidon'tknowhowtodothisiamgoingtofailthiscorse. However a memory of my mother telling me that when i have made a decision carefully to 'commit' calmed me and i remembered what i had decided long ago. To commit to making a 3D animation, or at least giving it everything i had. So i organized and re-read my notes. Set up my files, completed some unfinished tasks, wrote some questions down to ask jack and huni and finished my schedule.

As it stands the tasks i have yet to complete are thus:

Revise my anamatic.

Do 2 model sheets.

Do 1 colour scheme for my guard.

Clean up my concept art.

Do 1 coloured layout.

Finish my budget.

Do my Tracking Sheets.

Write about what inspired (my insanity) me.

The questions i have to ask Jack are thus:

How do i import Machan into his world?

How do i do lighting in Maya?

How do i use a camera in Maya?

How do i give my character eyelids?

Would it work if i animated Machan in an unfinished world and then imported him into his finished world (because kavinda hasn't done Machan's finished world yet. I should have talked to him more about it, will correct this)?

The questions i have to ask Huni are thus:

What is a tracking list? (because yes in the last 2 weeks of school i still don't know what one is)

Is a shot list compulsory and if so can i have an example of one?

The questions i have to ask god are this:

Are you kidding me with this?? i mean come ON! ease up big guy!

To which he would probably reply:

Hey i told you time and time again: don't procrastinate.

*head-desk, head-desk, head-desk

This is a calm but quietly despairing Cara signing off.

*for those who don't know 'head-desking' is when you slam your head into your desk. i know. yay for internet born phrases.

Everything's Under Control

I've got a lot of work to do but i'm fairly confident i will finish it all on time. Machan is now fully rigged, skinned and ready to roll. Theres a bit of wonkiness going on with the skinning but i'm fairly sure it's an easy fix. I know it's a weighting problem but i just can't quite remember how to fix it. Oh conscious incompetence my old friend. I have also thought of what i will animate Machan doing. I think 3 jumps over 3 objects in his rush to get to the door but in his vigour he ends up running into it instead of opening it. The filming of my video block went off without a hitch but due to the changes i have made in the story recently i got a little confused. I have written a quick breakdown of the new shots and now it is all clear in my head. I'm still planning on doing a revised version of the Anamatic for my bible. Time is indeed running short and i am disappointed to say i don't think i will end up completing as much concept art as i had originally hoped but all the necessities will be fully completed.

Onwards we forge towards the finish line. Or at least the halfway point. I have realised just this week passed that i will probably have to model and rig my guard robot alone. I feel half confident, half terrified because if i have one of those little slip ups where i have no idea what i've done and yet the character is not working for some reason there will be nothing i can do. The bug doesn't worry me so much. I'm a little worried about the rocks in my scene and especially of my lack of knowledge about combining the objects, the back ground and my two characters in the one setting. I remember last year the 3D guys had lots of issues with shrinking or enlarging characters or sets. I hope none of these problems surface for me because as i said before i would have no clue how to fix them.

I'm not panicing. I have concerns and questions, i have plans and lists and for some reason (possibly because i feel there is still room for error) i feel fairly calm. I'll be happy when my Bible is handed in.

Over and out.

And time goes on

so said the pendulum.

I survived last weeks crunch catastrophe, in part due to the fact that Jack pretty much modeled Machan and that about %90 of the stuff i was maniacally trying to complete i discovered wasn't actually due for a while yet. I finished my anamatic and handed it in though there are some changes that need to be made. I will have to revise before i hand my bible in. I am so proud to say that i pretty much rigged my Machan model a feat that if i had been told 6 months ago to do i would have probably smiled politely and replied with 'no. hell no'. I've had a few attempts at some different colour schemes for Machan and intend to finish quite a few more before i hand my bible in. I've also gone through a few a few different colour designs for my bug and am close to finishing up it's design all together. I'm looking forward to having a go at animating Machan though at this stage i'm not sure what to have him do. I'm trying to think of an action that exhibits his personality or his drive but since i've cut down his character he only has one drive; get through the door. I'll put my mind to it and figure it out though.

Till next time,

carpe diem.